数字时代：只求享用，不求持有

By+Emily+Tamkin

或許大部分人都会理所当然地认为电子书比纸质书便宜，在网上付费看电影比购买电影光盘便宜。所以当亚马逊上的电子书定价比纸质书还要高，下载高清版电影比购买二手光盘还要贵时，很多人感到疑惑不解。但如果换个角度思考，电子版带给我们的除了信息内容，还有便利舒适的使用体验，也许你就会觉得多付的钱是值得的。

Were increasingly paying extra to get the digital version of a book or movie.

我们正在为数字版书籍或电影支付越来越多的钱。

Imagine， for a moment， that you want to buy The Complete Works of Primo Levi1 edited by talented translator Ann Goldstein. If you were to buy a new version of the hardcover2 collection on Amazon， the price is$58.40. If， however， you decided that rather than adorning3 your shelves with Levi， you wanted to download it to your e-reader， saving yourself paper and time， you would need to pay $59.49. It would cost you more not to physically own the books.

Of course， its just a difference of $1.09. But spend some time on Amazon and a trend becomes clear： Many （though certainly not all） digital versions cost more than their physical counterparts4. The Blu-ray Disc of the Christmas classic Love Actually costs a very reasonable $8.68， but to download and buy the HD5 version on Amazon Video costs $14.99. （To download and rent it costs $3.99， while a used version is only$2.37）. Download Beyoncés6 Lemonade from Apple to your iPhone for $17.99， but get the CD on Amazon for just $15.76.

Certainly this is far from the case in every instance—there are lots of examples of the digital version being cheaper than the physical. But the list will only get longer， raising the question： Why are we increasingly paying more money to not actually have the thing were buying？ Amazon and Apple acknowledged receipt of but did not respond to requests for comment. But while we cannot know their official answers， we can nevertheless speculate7 as to why were now paying more to own without physically owning.

For one thing， weve reached a point at which its the digital version that wont let us down. Mark Dean， assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Columbia University， surmised in an email that while he could try to create “some clever behavioral econ explanation，”8 he thinks the real answer is that we are paying more to download because we are learning to trust the digital， easily available version. It used to be that to have the physical copy was to have reliability and consistency. But that isnt true anymore， he said. The internet is now reliable， and with it Amazon and Netflix9. In fact， theyre more durable than the physical copy， as anyone who has scratched10 a CD or had a package get lost in the mail or misplaced a beloved book would likely agree.

Weve also come to see the digital version as superior in some ways. Mark Armstrong， professor of economics at the University of Oxford， noted in an email that well shell out11 for things like being able to quickly consume a product wherever one wants， or clicking on a word reading to see its definition， or skipping to the place in a book where a character first appears. Furthermore， he said， digital copies dont take up any space in a home office or university library， and perhaps more importantly， its the “only way to get immediate access from your sofa.” All of which is to say that we pay more for digital copies not only because they are more reliable， but also because they are more convenient.

Physical formats， on the other hand， so quickly become outdated. Richard Wilks， anthropologist and co-director of Indiana Universitys Food Institute， noted in a phone interview that millennials （of course its the millennials） have seen their parents lug VHS tapes to Goodwill.12 In other words， they have seen， and are currently seeing， the technologies with which they themselves grew up become obsolete13. Why pay extra for the DVD when you know your next computer probably wont have a DVD drive？

This is true， of course， true of movies and music， but not of books. What is true of all three， however， is that the digital version is often more trusted and more convenient， and that the digital is an accepted part of the way we live now. （Consider how increasingly surprising it is to see someone proudly display DVDs and records. E-books make it harder to show off your erudite14 tastes， alas.）

But not everyone can afford to jump on the ownership by absence bandwagon15， since not everyone has access to that version in the first place. According to the Pew Research Center， 13 percent of adult Americans do not use the internet， and 19 percent of those people said they dont do so because its cost prohibitive16. To Aleenah Mehta， a research fellow at the University of California， Berkeleys Haas Institute， this suggests a third driver behind this trend： People are paying more because the cost is less important than performance and participation in the new economy. That is， this trend exists because people always pay more to be part of the new cool club， and today the cool club is digital.

Whether or not it is indeed hipper to own the digital version， the reality remains that if the most accessible version of culture is 1） not accessible to everyone and 2） the least affordable， then ownership by absence becomes exclusionary.17 Not everyone gets to download culture.

We may be paying a premium for the convenience of digital objects—but theres another cost beyond the extra couple of bucks youre shelling out up-front.18 Mark Lemley， professor of law and director of the Program in Law， Science and Technology at Stanford Law School， said in an email， “customers get fewer rights in a digital copy than they do in a physical copy. I can loan， resell， or tear into pieces my physical book or CD. But the law wont let me do the same thing with the digital copy I ‘buy. ” Were paying more to be legally able to do less. Or， as Aaron Fellmeth has put it in Future Tense， “You bought it， but you dont own it.”

This， qualms19 serious and subtle aside， is the way we pay to own now and may be for the foreseeable future. That doesnt mean weve become any less captivated20 by consumption. As Wilks said， possession is fundamentally human， and while we may change the concept of what and how we possess， well still be possessed by possessions.

We still own things， in other words. We may no longer show how well-read21 we are by displaying hardcover Primo Levi on our bookshelves. But now we can bring his work with us everywhere， without lugging around those heavy books. And well even pay more to do just that.

我偶尔会设想，假如你想购买由优秀翻译家安·戈德斯坦编辑的《普里莫·莱维全集》，亚马逊上的新版精装书售价为58.40美元。但是如果你认为与其用莱维的书装饰书架，不如把它下载到电子阅读器上，这样还节省纸张和时间，那么你需要支付59.49美元，比购买纸质书还要贵。

当然，价格只相差1.09美元，如果你在亚马逊上花点时间，就会发现一个趋势日益明显：很多产品（当然不是全部）的数字版价格高于其实体版。经典圣诞爱情片《真爱至上》的蓝光碟定价相当合理——8.68 美元，而从“亚马逊视频”上购买下载高清版需要花14.99 美元（租看下载这部电影是3.99 美元，而二手光盘只需2.37 美元）。从苹果商店下载歌手碧昂丝的专辑《柠檬水》到iPhone上需要支付17.99 美元，而从亚马逊上买张CD只要15.76美元。

当然很多时候并非如此——很多产品的数字版还是比实体版便宜。但是数字版价格高于实体版的产品只会越来越多，让我们不禁发问：为什么要花越来越多的钱去购买不能实际持有的产品呢？亚马逊和苹果公司都承认收到过相关提问，但没有给出答复。尽管不知道他们的官方回答，但我们还是可以推测为什么我们要支付更多的钱去购买不能实际持有的东西。

一方面，现在的情况是数字版一般不会让我们失望。哥伦比亚大学经济系副教授马克·迪恩曾在一封邮件中做出猜想，他尝试给出“某种合理的经济行为解释”，认为人们支付更多钱去下载的真正原因在于我们越来越信赖容易获取的数字版本。在过去，实体产品意味着可靠性和持久性，然而现在情况变了，迪恩说。互联网变得可靠，使得亚马逊和奈飞也让人信赖。其实数字版比实体版更加持久，相信每个刮花过CD、快递中丢过包裹或忘记把心爱的书放在哪里的人都会同意这一点。

同时我们也认识到数字版在某些方面的优越性。哈佛大学经济学教授马克·阿姆斯特朗在一封邮件中指出，我们其实在为一些体验付费，比如随时随地可快速消费的产品，或是阅读过程中通过点击某一单词查看其释义，或是快速跳到书中某个人物首次出场的地方。他进一步说，数字版不会占据家庭办公室或大学图书馆的空间，也许更重要的是，它是“窝在沙发上就可获取的唯一方式”。也就是说，我们为数字版本支付更高的价钱不仅仅因为其可靠性，更因为其便捷性。

另一方面，实体版本迅速地变得过时。人类学家兼印第安纳大学食品研究院联席主任理查德·威尔克斯在电话采访中说，千禧一代（当然是千禧一代）眼看着父母把沉重的VHS录像带拖到慈善旧货店Goodwill卖掉。换句话说，他们都曾经或者正在见证伴随他们长大的技术变得过时。如果你知道你的下一台电脑可能连DVD光驱都没有的时候，为什么还要花钱去买DVD呢？

当然了，电影和音乐是这样，但书籍情况不同。然而对于這三样东西来说，共同点在于数字版通常更值得信赖且更加方便，数字版产品已成为现代生活方式中已被接受的一部分（想想如果现在还有人高调地使用DVD和录像带，该是多么令人惊讶！电子书让你比较难显摆自己的博学，呜呼！）。

但并非每个人都能有足够的钱去赶上这趟“只求享用、不求持有”的时尚潮流，因为首先并非每个人都能获取数字版本。根据皮尤研究中心，13%的成年美国人不使用互联网，这些人中的19%说他们不使用互联网是因为成本太高。加州大学伯克利分校哈斯研究所的研究员阿丽娜·梅塔认为，这个现象揭示了背后促成这一趋势的第三个因素：人们愿意为数字版支付更高价格是因为在新经济时代下，价格没有性能和参与感那么重要。换言之，出现这种趋势是因为人们愿意花钱去成为时尚潮流的一分子，而当今潮流就是数字化。

不管拥有数字版能否让人变得更时髦，事实就是如果文化产品的所谓最便捷的版本并非人人可得，且价格令人承担不起，那么数字版本的所有权就会具有排他性，因为并非人人都能下载。

我们也许为了数字物品的便捷性支付了额外费用——然而，除了首次购买多花了点儿钱之外，你还付出了其他的代价。斯坦福法学院的法学教授及法律、科学与技术项目主任马克·莱姆利在一封电子邮件中写道：“人们从数字版中获得的权利比实体版少。我可以出借、转卖甚至撕烂我的纸质书或CD，但法律不允许我用‘购买的电子版产品做同样的事情。”我们花更多的钱，享有的法律权利却更少。也许正如艾伦·费尔麦斯在专栏“将来时”中所写的那样：“你购买了它，但你并不拥有它。”

撇开一些严肃而隐约的担忧，这就是我们现在以及在可预见的未来为获得拥有权而采取的支付方式。这不意味着消费构成的诱惑有所减少了。正如威尔克斯所言，占有欲是人类的天性，也许占有的内容和方式改变了，但我们仍被占有欲所操控。

换言之，我们仍然拥有数字产品。也许我们再也不用通过书架上普里莫·莱维的精装书来展现博学，但现在我们可以将他的作品随身携带，而无需背着那些沉重的大部头。为此，我们甚至愿意付更多的钱。

1. Primo Levi： 普里莫·莱维（1919—1987），犹太裔意大利化学家、小说家，也是纳粹大屠杀的幸存者，曾在奥斯维辛集中营里被关押了11个月，他于1947年出版的处女作《如果这是一个人》就记录了那一段生活。

2. hardcover： 硬皮书，精装书。

3. adorn： 装饰。

4. counterpart： 职位（或作用）相当的人，对应的事物。

5. HD： high definition，（电视或录像）高清晰度的。

6. Beyoncé： 碧昂丝，美国著名流行音乐女歌手。

7. speculate： 推测，猜测。

8. surmise： 猜测，推测；behavioral： 行为的；econ： economic的缩写。

9. Netflix： 奈飞公司，一家知名在线影片租赁提供商。

10. scratch：（用指甲）挠，抓，（用利器）划破。

11. shell out： 付款，还账。

12. lug： 吃力地拖、拉（重物）；VHS： Video Home System 家用录像系统；Goodwill： 美国的慈善二手店。

13. obsolete： 老式的，过时的。

14. erudite： 博学的，学问精深的。

15. bandwagon： 风尚，潮流。

16. prohibitive：（费用或成本）过分高昂的，负担不起的。

17. hip： 新潮的，时髦的；exclusionary：排他的。

18. premium： 附加费；buck： 美元（非正式）；up-front： 预付地。

19. qualm： 疑慮，不安，担忧。

20. captivate： 迷住，迷惑。

21. well-read： 博学的。